Page 18 of The Billionaire's Virgin

Chapter Six

Taylor

Jenna was running around having a blast. The museum was an interactive one, and it was the first time she had ever been. I had been slightly nervous about asking Reed to join us, mostly because I was worried it would be misconstrued.

What if he thought I was trying to hit on him? My attraction to him was the only thing fueling that particular worry. But I was also scared that he would be offended by the invitation. It was a diplomatic way of getting him to be more involved with Jenna’s life, but I didn’t think it was extremely subtle. He had taken it well, however, but I wasn’t sure if it was because he had been desperate to move off the topic of his marriage to Jenna’s mother.

That had really surprised me. I would never have guessed in a million years that Jenna was the product of a drunken vacation and string of one-night stands between two strangers. Reed had left his story unfinished and as curious as I was, I knew that I couldn’t go there. He obviously didn’t speak about it often, and I wasn’t going to risk pissing him off by prying into things that were none of my business.

I did have questions but I knew I would have to ignore them for now. It made me look at Reed differently though, and it had also increased my attraction for him. He had had a baby with a stranger and then he had stuck around and taken responsibility for that child; despite the fact that Jenna’s birth had obviously interfered with his life plans, he had done the right thing.

I thought about my own father, a man I had never met and never would. He had abandoned my mother shortly after she had revealed to him that she was pregnant. I had lived my entire life knowing that I was the reason he had disappeared. I thought about the man my mother had eventually married, Brady, my stepfather. My stomach turned just thinking about him, and I shook away the dark thoughts and focused on Jenna, crawling through the digestive system in the Eat, Sleep, Play section of the museum.

Reed was standing on the sidelines, taking pictures of his daughter with a large smile on his face. I noticed him talking to a few of the other parents, and I realized he didn’t often do this kind of thing. He seemed more animated than usual though and I realized that maybe sometimes he needed a break too.

Jenna crawled out of the digestive system and ran up to Reed and me. “I want to go to Japan now; Millie wants to come too,” she said enthusiastically.

Reed and I exchanged a glance, and I laughed, realizing what she meant. “There’s another section here that introduces the kids to Japanese culture,” I explained. “We can check the map.”

“I know where to go,” a short dark-haired woman said, stepping forward. “I’m Lily, Millie’s mother.”

“Can we go now?” Jenna asked, pulling on Reed’s hand. “Millie and I want to go to Japan.”

Millie was a little redhead with freckles covered her whole face. I noticed that the two girls were holding hands and I realized that Reed had made the same observation.

“I think they bonded inside the digestive system,” Lily laughed.

Reed laughed. “Okay, girls, let’s go.”

As we headed out of the large room, Reed and I introduced ourselves to Lily as the two girls raced ahead of us with their hands still linked. It always marveled me how easily children could make friends. It was one of the things that people lost as they became adults.

The moment we made it to the Japan section of the museum, the girls took off to explore, leaving Reed and me with Millie’s mother. She turned to me with a smile.

“My husband had to work today, and it’s so hard reining her in without him,” she said. “You’re so lucky that you have your husband with you.”

I froze as I realized the assumption she had made. Of course, to anyone else, we looked like the perfect, happy family: a mother, father, and their daughter. I saw Reed hesitate for a moment too, but I jumped in before he could speak.

“Oh, Reed isn’t my husband,” I said quickly. “He’s my boss. I mean, that is to say he’s my nanny… Uh… what I meant was I’m his nanny… that is, Jenna’s nanny.”

I blushed scarlet as I stumbled over my words in the most horrific explanation I had ever made in my life. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. It was absolutely mortifying, and I could see Lilly trying hard to resist the urge to laugh.

“Sorry,” Lilly said. “I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“That’s okay,” Reed said calmly. “It was a natural mistake.”

We stood around awkwardly and then Reed excused himself under the pretense that he was going to take more pictures of the girls.

“I made that really awkward, didn’t I?” she asked, and I could have almost laughed.

“It’s okay,” I said. “How would you have known?”

“It’s not many women that would send their kid and husband off with the nanny,” she said.

“Ah, well… Jenna lost her mother when she was a baby,” I said, feeling uncomfortable even revealing that information. But I did feel like I needed to set the record straight to some extent.

“Ah, I see.” Lily nodded. “Single father then?”

“Yes.”